The relationship between Cesare and Lucrezia is not exactly normal. Was it strange to film your intimate moments, or did you just laugh it off?
Both. We always knew where we were going with this, since we knew our destiny from our first scenes in the first season. The characters are desperately, irrevocably in love from the beginning, we just raised it to a new, physical level. I don’t want to give away too much, but they themselves are just as surprised as the viewers will be. A thousand different feelings flow through them in one scene, and you will feel it too.

Did you and Holliday have to do many takes?
We purposely try not to flub because of the limited time to shoot. And it’s not because it’s comic, even though there are some funny moments. I’ve seen our bloopers of from the third season: six months compressed into twelve minutes! This is The Borgias, not The Bridesmaids!

- Francois Arnaud on Cesare & Lucrezia and what it was like to film those ‘intimate’ scenes.

(Translated from Hungarian.)

(Source: starity.hu)

Micheletto & Cesare Borgia in Season 1, 2 and 3 - both their hairdos seem to have evolved in tandem, from tidy to wild. Micheletto’s gone from neat hair and beard to long and unruly on both accounts. And Cesare’s hair gets bigger and curlier and longer with each season.

Is it a result of better hair products? Or is it a symbol of how their character’s are evolving? It’s obvious their strengths are in the ‘do and that as they become bigger players (and more ruthless?) in the game, their respective hair seems to follow suit.

Season 4 will be interesting indeed. *g*

I think she is to blame, right? Because she makes the first move, right? She just couldn’t resist me anymore. It felt like it was meant to happen. Of course they do have sexual feelings for one another, but it mostly comes from a deep, deep love. I think they also both tried to have romantic relationships with other people and it hasn’t worked—and probably because they keep comparing everyone who comes into their lives to that ideal of brother or sister that they have.

There are so many emotions involved in that sexual act that it couldn’t have been just jumping each other’s bones. There’s a lot more involved and it’s a lot of mixed emotions. When it happens there’s pain, there’s relief, there’s the feeling that it was inevitable. There’s also fear for the future and it all happens at once. And that’s what love can be.

There are different kinds of love and when you love someone as much as Cesare loves Lucrezia, you want to possess her but you wish her happiness more than yours. And I think Cesare has many doubts about what’s better for her. I’m sure, for himself, he enjoyed the whole thing. I don’t think he has many personal regrets about it. But I think for her especially he feels like he should be the bigger man. He should lead her the right way. And he probably feels that he failed her in a way.

Is incest worse than murder? People can be so prudish. This is so funny actually. It’s like the MPAA ratings; I’m always surprised that like if someone walks out of the shower in the nude it can’t be seen by 17-year-olds, but then 13-year-olds are allowed to go see people blowing up other people’s heads for three hours. Amazing. I don’t know what people are so afraid of.

- Francois Arnaud about Cesare’s love for Lucrezia. And he speaks the truth about the double standards of accepting all kinds of horrible violence, but not consentual sex between two (fictional) adults…

(Source: redeyechicago.com)

With all the angst for Cesare & Lucrezia lately, I, like everyone else, am looking forward to whatever epiosde this scene might be from! They’re happy! And Cesare’s obviously been in a scrape - judging from the wound on his cheek. Saving Lucrezia and Rome from their enemies, no doubt. 

The Borgias is back! I’d completely forgotten, but now that I’ve watched the first two episodes of season three, I’m sucked back in. It’s so wonderfully camp and fascinating. I love it.

And since I spent all those years in the Supernatural fandom, fictional incest seems perfectly natural. Still, I did think they’d stop at hinting. But oh no, it’s going all the way. Which, yay! Illicit love with lots and lots of pining is always the best. Pining wins everytime.

Top of the Lake - tv series by Jane Campion.

Jane Campion is one of my favourite directors, I love most of her films. And so I had high hopes for Top of the Lake - and I feel it delivered. I love the fairly slow pace, letting the characters develop, letting the story unfold. I love the setting, not only is it immensely beautiful, it’s also extremely rural and claustrophobic and corrupt. And Elizabeth Moss is wonderful as the main character. 

This new era of television is really quite exciting. If Jane Campion would have had to make this into a two-hour movie, it’d probably be very, very different. This kind of television is almost like a novel, differing from your ordinary television show in that it does have a clear ending (and being made on channels and networks who aren’t dependant on commercials or daily ratings). It’s pretty exciting!

Ang Lee with Heath Ledger & Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Brokeback Mountain.

Such a great movie, so filled with sadness, both in the film itself and with the tragic loss of Heath Ledger. Can’t believe it’s been five years, already. To me, this is the greatest thing he did; he was perfect as Ennis - this closed-up boy-man, where you could see all those feelings, hiding underneath the surface.